Jonathan knowles photographer wikipedia
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On the first roll of film in that camera, frames 16 and 17 were of splashing milk.
Since then, I have been fascinated by the ‘unseen forms of nature’ hidden within liquids and other natural elements. You really need to get the lighting right with a movie as you don’t want to re-edit or process every frame of a sequence that is filmed at a thousand frames per second.
I guess I get the most pleasure from the variation of work we do - I love doing all the various types of photography, and I get as much pleasure from a portrait/beauty shot as I do from a great close-up image of liquids, for example.
'Black Sabbath 13' (last album cover)
'Heineken Droplets'
'Bodyscape'
'DiorSHOW 2049'
Moving images and film advertisements - when did this come into your work stream?
In 2012, I saw the new type of digital billboards coming in and realised that only doing still images would not be enough going forward.
When I got my first camera at 16 years old, I used two frames on my first roll of film to try and replicate the splash by dropping stones into a glass of milk in the garden. We did some film tests of bubbles and a glass of beer with condensation running down the outside, so we had moving images on our website. I was amazed by this image on the wall in the school’s science laboratory and how it captured an ‘unseen’ moment in time.
I thought that a thousandth of a second exposure was going to be fine to capture this, but of course I wasn’t thinking about the shutter delay or the reaction time in pressing the button. My first big advertising campaign was for Interflora in 1994. He has applied his masterful ability in still photography to filmmaking.
Lürzer’s Archive 200 Best Ad Photographers
Featured - Costa Coffee, Untamed Bags, Chopard, Balloon Burst, Exploding Flowers
PDN Annual
Best Stock Photography – Squish
American Photography Awards
AP32 Chosen Winner – Orange Vintage Flowers
Graphis – Photography Annual
Platinum for Hogarth
Gold for Men’s Make-Up & Infatuation
Silver for McCafé & Replicant
Merit for Vintage Flowers & Growing Up At Eton
2015
Creative Review Photography Annual
Best Stock Photography – Vintage Flowers
AOP Awards Nominee
Non Commissioned Object Series – Vintage Flowers
PDN Annual
Best Self Promotion – Liquids book
One Eyeland Awards
Photographer of the Year
Silver Medal in 4 categories
Graphis Photography Annual
2 Golds – Still Life and Animals
1 Silver – Portraits
3 Merits – Beauty & Fashion, Flowers and Portraits
2 Nominations – Advertising
2014
AOP Awards Nominee
Commissioned Advertising – Schwarzkopf Bubbles
PDN Annual
Best Self Promotion – ‘Christmas Clea’ Card
Lürzer’s Archive 200 Best Ad Photographers
Featured - Superhero Lips, Flaviana, Black Sabbath, Gingers, Old Masters
Art Directors Club Awards
Merit – Black Sabbath 13
Graphis – Photography Annual
Silver in 3 categories (Portraits, Beauty, Beverage)
Merit in 2 categories (Still Life, Entertainment)
One Eyeland Awards
Silver Medal in 2 categories (Beauty, Music)
Bronze Medal in 1 category (Still Life)
Finalist in 2 categories (Portrait)
2013
Creative Review Photography Annual
Best Design Photography – Black Sabbath 13
Graphis – 100 Best in Design
Silver for Cicada
Graphis – 100 Best in Photography
2 Golds for Beauty images
Graphis – 100 Best in Advertising
Gold for The Guardian – Broken Britain
PDN Annual
Advertising winner – Omo Campaign
One Eyeland Awards
Silver medal in 3 categories Bronze medal
2012
Graphis – 100 Best in Advertising
The Guardian – Broken Britain
Graphis – 100 Best in Photography
Four Images Selected
AOP Awards Nominee
Commissioned Design Single – Make Model CD
PX3 Awards
Overall Winner – Photographer of the Year
Winner – Advertising Beauty Photography
2011
Graphis – 100 Best in Photography
Three images selected
AOP Awards Nominee
Portrait of David Cameron
Lürzer’s Archive – 200 Best Advertising Photographers
PDN – The Look
Still Life Series
PX3 Awards
Advertising Beauty – Silver Medal
Fine Art Still Life – Bronze Medal
2010
The Photography Masters Cup
1st place – Outstanding achievement in the food section
3rd place -Honour of Distinction in the Abstract section
3rd place – Honour of Distinction for the Photographer of the Year
Graphis Photography Annual
Lürzer’s Archive – 200 Best Advertising Photographers
Bronze ‘Creative Circle’ Award
2009
Campaign Big Award
Winner – Soft Drinks and Household Poster
Campaign Photo Awards – Finalist
2008
Graphis Photography Annual
Lürzer’s Archive – 200 Best Advertising Photographers
2007
New York RX Club and Global Awards
Gold – Best Campaign for Xenical
2006
Lürzer’s Archive – 200 Best Advertising Photographers
Interview led by Editor Colin Dixon
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 17th of March 2023
Jonathan Knowles is an award-winning advertising photographer and film-maker.
Probably one of the most entertaining was the Black Sabbath 13 album cover - burning a big wicker 13 was a lot of fun. I would like to thank Jonathan for this interview, and for the amazing photographs we see here on 1x.
'Kubrick Coffee droplets'
'Catbury's Glass and a Half'
Jonathan how did you get into photography?
My initial inspiration was Harold Edgerton’s photograph of the Milk Drop Coronet when I was 8 years old.
This project also meant I could work both in the studio and on location around the UK.
The business started in 1988. Since then, he has created stunning imagery that captures the essence of powerful brands and catapults them to new heights. Jonathan’s unique style has earned him award-winning advertising commissions worldwide.
In the past eighteen years, Jonathan has consistently featured
in the ‘200 Best Advertising Photographers in the World’ books, with his image used on the cover of the latest edition.
Here, I managed to talk a few people into doing some photography for them, which led me to shoot some work on a brochure for a playground manufacturing company. He has recently been given the accolade of Advertising Photographer of the Year 2019, with a ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Notable commissions include campaigns for many globally recognised brands, such as Coca-Cola, Smirnoff, Nescafé, Guinness and Glenfiddich.
We have a specialised flash for liquids working with flash speeds of a 1/111000th of a second. The blue colour came our selection from the range of blue gels we tested with the lighting, together with the film stock we chose.
He specialises in liquids, drinks and food photography.
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Drinks imageryBeauty & Skin imageryFood & Drink imageryLiquids imagery
Photographer Overview
Jonathan Knowles is a specialist in still life, liquids, drinks, food, beauty and special effects image making.